I am a classic BAR. I got back into model rocketry after I saw a Semroc Saturn IB in a local hobby shop and my son and wife got it for me for my birthday. Since then I have added kits I flew when is was a youth and ones I wished could have had then. You encouraged me to join NAR and rewarded me with discounts. While I added lots of great kits and parts in the past few weeks I wish I could have put more away. But most of all I wish I could be looking forward to getting more of those Semroc boxes on the front porch for years to come.

Unlike many, I am not a BAR. I have built model rockets continuously since 1967. I have literally built hundreds of kits from as many different manufacturers as I could find. I have purchased kits and materials from guys with three designs working out of their living room and from companies with dozens of designs selling out of large warehouses. I have never experienced the pleasure of working with a company like Semroc. Semroc is not the kits and parts they sell, although those are second to none. Rather Semroc is the family that runs it. Carl, Sheryl and Bruce are the most loving, sharing, giving and caring people I have ever done business with. To say they were a class act does not even come close to describing what they do. I have had dealings with them for purchases, problems, questions and donations. Never have I been ignored and always they were lightening fast in everything they did. They always made you feel like you were their only customer and that the were there specifically for you. I will miss the kits and part a lot, but I will miss the them much, much more. Good luck, peace and God's grace in everything that comes your way.

If more corporations would model themselves after what Carl, Sheryl, and Bruce built Semroc into, I'm convinced the world would be a much greater place. Thanks for all the wonderful years. Truly a class act to which all others should measure themselves against.

__________________When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!
No DIRECT and MEASURABLE Harm=NO Foul advocate

If you are NOT FLYING LOW in the left lane, you need to GET THE #$&@ OUT of it !

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask, you probably aren't !

When I discovered the new Semroc in about 2010 (I vaguely recalled seeing a few of their first-run kits in Orange Blossom Hobbies in Miami in the early 1970s), I said to myself, "We should all [including the company personnel] enjoy this while it lasts." I did, and so did we (and they), and now it's over--at least under their efforts (I wish Jetlag/Allen well in his efforts to continue Semroc in some fashion)--but that very *mortal* nature of the experience is what made it special! Also:

I loved Estes' "Vern years," which were also special, and also never will be replicated, but I'm also enjoying their "Piester years," with Rick Piester on their governing board (which is deliciously ironic, considering the rival company that his father founded...). If Semroc continues under new ownership, I will develop a new, equally special relationship with the new owner(s), but that will never diminish the specialness of, or my fondness for, the original owners and the "McLawhorn years."

I'm still kinda reeling over it all. I'll miss their awesome customer service. I did save some of the Rocksim files of theirs and can re-clone the kits, but not to have those nice, laser-cut fins. *cringe*

I found, or became a Semite, in March 2006 and began tracking my orders since then. Up until my last order in March of this year I had sent $9000 to Knightdale - (I truly hope the wife does not see that number), and in return have been lavished with exceptional products, incredible customer service, and an absolute wealth of information and guidance. I am still deeply in their debt. I am in the mode of hoping against hope that an infusion of cash would be sufficient to provide a rebirth, but it is an awful lot to ask of Sheryl and Bruce to continue after the circumstance they have borne. I miss all the white boxes and smooth baby butt cones that came within them, and the crisp LC fins that made my life so very easy. I guess I will get to be one the "remember when?" group though, a true nostalgia and a saddened grumpy man.

__________________
Gravity is a harsh mistress
SAM 002
NAR 91005
"The complexity of living is eminently favored to the simplicity of not."